The past few decades have been a small and slow beginning of what may turn out to be a large evolution of how we think about medicine and medical care in general.  Everyone has been pandered to by a family member, local stoner or even an activist on the street that has tried to convince you that cannabis can save the world somehow, cure cancer, replace your pills. Usually this person is draped in, what looks to you as, stank and ignorance to how the “real world” works.  ‘How can this young pothead know anything?’

Funny thing happened on the way the market honey… Some stoner completely changed my outlook on the world.

I have never been fired from a job before, but I’d imagine it sucks very badly. I have quit jobs in the past, but I’ve never been terminated. If I was terminated for being a horrible employee, then I think I would be more accepting. But if I was fired for something that was unfair, I would be very upset about it. For instance, if I was fired for using a medicine that is legal in the state that I worked in, I would be extremely upset.

Excerpted from "Big Weed: An Entrepreneur's High-Stakes Adventures in the Budding Legal Marijuana Business"

When I left my house on a beautiful morning in February 2013, I was carrying $40,000 in cash in my backpack. The sun was just hitting the foothills of the Rockies as I drove out of Lowry, the neighborhood where I live in Denver. As you might surmise from the contents of the backpack, it was going to be a big day.

My first appointment was the most important. I was meeting with an architect I’d hired several months ago to design a building I was planning to construct somewhere within Denver city limits. The first building of its kind anywhere in the world.

Wine, cheese and weed? Enjoying all three at once is nothing new, but the movement that officially recognizes the similarities between these tasting parallels is only just starting to gain momentum.

The days of illegal marijuana were a far simpler time, without the complexities of flavors among so many different varieties of indica, sativa and hybrid strains. Today, there are 1,356 strain results on weed site Leafly — and while not all of those are legitimately unique, this new-found variety is opening an entirely new subculture of cannabis connoisseurs and an industry that could one day resemble the long-accepted world of wine.

Beverly Hills Cannabis Club's Cheryl Shuman

It was bound to happen — cannabis networking events that encourage curious women to pursue a career in a growing market. Pun intended.

A marketing queen who has been running the private Beverly Hills Cannabis Club for 20 years, Cheryl Shuman is taking advantage of what she calls the “pot-com boom,” and wants to take other career-minded women along for the ride.

In February she formed the networking group Women Grow, where she inspires others to join the cannabis industry. The group met recently in West Hollywood to discuss financial opportunities such as weed photography and selling baked pot edibles.

The state of Colorado legalized recreational marijuana a year and a half ago. And those in the industry there say it is already showing dividends in terms of tourism.

"Business Insider just named Colorado the fastest growing economy in the country. They say we are number one out of 50 states!" says Michael Elliott with the Marijuana Industries Group in Denver. His groups is kind of like the Chamber of Commerce for marijuana-related industries there. "We see this all helping fill up hotels and cut unemployment. Our unemployment right now is at 4%."

Ashley Kilroy with the Marijuana Policy for the City of Denver would agree that tourism is up...but says you can't attribute it all to pot.

MEDFORD, Ore. — Narc and Cody are finding out there's truth to the adage "you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

The two drug-sniffing canines that work for Medford police could face early retirement because they are too good at detecting marijuana, which will become legal July 1.

"It's kind of sad," Deputy Chief Brett Johnson said. "Nobody wants to see a dog lose its job."

The issue arises because drug-sniffing dogs are often used to provide leads - probable cause - that can allow police to search people or property for drugs. If a suspect were carrying marijuana and heroin and a dog trained to smell both indicated the presence of a drug, any arrest could be invalidated, because the dog may have been smelling legal marijuana.

Cannabis Landscape Overview

What an interesting and exciting time for cannabis this is. With four states and D.C. legalizing cannabis for adult use and dozens of states working to implement medical cannabis programs, cannabis is becoming more widely accepted in our society. Every day new opportunities arise and new challenges are faced. As cannabis returns to the mainstream of society there are both external and internal forces at work to consider.

Cannabis Landscape Overview

What an interesting and exciting time for cannabis this is. With four states and D.C. legalizing cannabis for adult use and dozens of states working to implement medical cannabis programs, cannabis is becoming more widely accepted in our society. Every day new opportunities arise and new challenges are faced. As cannabis returns to the mainstream of society there are both external and internal forces at work to consider.

Shane Ray, left, the Missouri pass rusher selected by Denver Broncos in the first round of the NFL Draft, holds his team jersey with his mother Sebrina Johnson after a news conference Friday, May 1, 2015, in Englewood. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

Let's call a cease-fire on the NFL's senseless war against marijuana.

When Broncos rookie Shane Ray messes up and gets pulled over by police with 35 grams of marijuana in his car, he needs to answer to his mom, not NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

"My mom just started crying," Ray said, when I asked how he broke the news to Sebrina Johnson about getting busted for pot possession 80 hours before the draft's opening bell.